


A Brave New World

by SwampRAT



Category: Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Bruce Banner Has Issues, Conflicted Tony, Mafia AU, Multi, Protective Steve Rogers, Roaring Twenties
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-12
Updated: 2016-06-14
Packaged: 2018-07-14 07:59:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7161497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SwampRAT/pseuds/SwampRAT
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'The Avengers' are an underground vigilantly organization who put all their time into taking down 'the bad guys'. Targeting the major mobs and their bosses they get into some pretty hairy situations. They are easily the best chance the country has at dealing with the rampant growth in crime, but the government thinks them a menace and that they need to be caught and dealt with.<br/>The Avengers weren't always the crime fighting party the country's people have come to adore though.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Anthony Edward Stark

**Author's Note:**

> **IMPORTANT**   
>  So I'm still new to tags and warnings on this site and because of that I wasn't sure what warnings I should use for this fic as a whole. Plus, the warnings would give away spoilers for later chapters I have planned. The depictions of violence will vary, but for the most part you will see a decent about of gore from time to time. That's why that's the only warning I have up, because that will constantly be running through the whole fic while other themes might only be for one chapter then not come up again.
> 
>  
> 
> Having said that, at the beginning of each chapter I will add in warnings as needed. Trigger warnings will also be set in the notes at the top of the page if any arise. So if you plan on following this fic then look in the notes at the top of the page for each chapter following before reading if you are concerned.
> 
>  
> 
> Also, could you guys please leave a comment with what you think of the work? I would really like to hear what people like and don't like about it so I can make sure you guys enjoy reading it. Thank you very much~.
> 
>  
> 
> -SR

Today was a very special day for Stark Industries as a whole. They had been trying to close a deal with Hank Pym's company for a long time. Every time they would approach the stubborn man about striking up a deal he would swat them off like a bunch of flies. It's taken them years, but, today of all days, after a number of things went wrong in the labs resulting in a great hand full of injures, Pym gave in and finally settled on a deal. The whole building was practically buzzing with excitement, people hardly able to get any work done after the call went out and everyone was informed. It was a day of celebration and Mr. Stark was more then happy to invite everyone of importance to a private speak easy he owned in the city. The event was planned, the times were set, the cars were ready and waiting now all that remained was to wait for the sun to go down. 

The streets were dark, people were inside their homes, most of them just starting to fall asleep under their thick blankets and clean sheets, and it was now the perfect time for all the guests to slowly start arriving. Car by car men showing up,, or sometimes in pairs, and started to file down the narrow steps to the club. Upon entry, Mr. Stark naturally already having been there waiting to greet them as they arrived without their wives, each man was handed a glass of their preferred drink and shown into the room, a lovely, young girl accompanying them from there out. Not long passed before all the guests had arrived and were happily drinking while celebrating their success. Music was playing and girls were dancing around while the men talked and looked on in longing, that twinkle of lust in their dark eyes. All of these men were married, and happily might I add, but how could they resist one of Stark's girls? They never understood how that man found those beauties, but they never complained, seeing as they got the pleasure of watching them all dance around in their brightly colored flappers, on top of being escorted around the club by one at all times that had been assigned to them before the night started. 

This was going to be a night to remember for a very long time. The head of the company had brought out some of his best alcohol for the occasion and these guests weren't being shy about drinking it down. By the end of the night men were having to be helped up the stairs and to their car waiting for them they had drank so much. The girls were tired, but happy to have gotten a good amount of money from their guests. The liquor in their system helped those nice girls get a little extra, but it wasn't like the men would remember it in the morning anyway. Despite this event in the Stark's speak easy, there was one guest who never showed up, or at least never showed his face to the room. 

From one of the private rooms, usually reserved for Stark himself, there was a giggle and some muffled voices that had gone completely unnoticed the whole time. 

"Mr. Stark~!" she cried semi-dramatically while pushing at his shoulders halfheartedly, a grin pulling up her lips into a cute smile. 

"Please, my father is Mr. Stark. Call me Tony." the brunette chuckled while nuzzling into her neck, dragging another giggle from her while his hands roamed along her vibrant red flapper.

Unknown to everyone in the main room, including Mr. Stark himself, his son, the equally famous, Tony Stark had snatched up one of the girls from the party and managed to sneak her into this private room for a while. It was no surprise that he'd hidden back here. Most of the time there were events held here he would wait for things to get going before picking out one lucky lady to take into the back with the intention of 'wowing' her. What did that mean for that lucky gal' you might ask? It varied from day to day, but most of the time it was exactly what you'd expect from someone who shared the surname of Stark. 

As the night came to an end and everyone out in the main room started to leave, the two kids in the back quickly realized their fun was over as well. 

"Well," the pretty girl sighed contently as she fixed her hair and put her hat back on, "I have to say, Mr. Stark-, I mean, Tony," she giggled, turning to face him, "I had a very nice night. Thank you for letting me enjoy it with you."

Tony buzzed his lips gently as he held out a hand for her and guided her close again before resting his hands on her waist, a small smirk touching his lips..

"I'd be more then willing to run into each other like this again sometime, Victoria. In fact, why don't we do this again? Next week, Saturday, at sun set?" 

"Please, call me Vicky." she giggled, pecking him on the lips. "And I'd love to."

Tony smiled that winning smile of his before they both walked out of the room. He took her up the stairs, completely ignoring the inquires from his father, and got her into the private car that had gotten him there. Telling the driver to treat her nice and take her where she wanted to go, the young Stark got one last kiss from Vicky before walking back inside. Once out of site he took out his handkerchief and wiped his mouth free of the women's dark lipstick that had, until then, been unnoticeable in the dim lighting until now. Clearing his throat he trotted over to the bar and tapped on the thick wood with his knuckle to get the bartender's attention and had him pour two drinks. Grabbing the glasses he turned and walked off to where he knew his father was, helping the other girls out a back entrance.

"What was it this time?." Mr. Stark called but didn't look to the younger. 

"5'5, curly brown hair, maple eyes, cute laugh, not too thin." Tony said casually as he set one glass on a crate near his father. "What can I say? I like a girl with a little meat on her. All these real thin ones aren't nearly as much fun." He finished his thought and took a drink before cocking his head slightly as he leaned back against the wall to watch his father. "You look... horrible. What about you? Pick up anything tonight? Or is your age finally catching up with you?"

"Tony, have you ever thought that maybe you should settle down? Find a nice girl and have a few kids for god's sake." the elder Stark huffed, offering a gently smile to the last girl he showed to a car and waved off. "Who knows, it might just help get you to act your age." he said, obviously not meaning it in just a teasing way.

The younger engineer huffed through his nose and swallowed a large mouthful of his drink, hissing softly at the burn. "Maybe you should stay home and actually be with the woman who is bound to you for life, even if she hates waking up every morning." Tony bit before pushing away from the wall and walking out into the cold night air of the streets. 

It wasn't hard to see that the two Stark men didn't exactly see eye to eye. Howard might have been very much like his son while he was young, but in age he has learned many things that weren't just useful for aiding his company along. He'd learned to actually respect women, respect his fellow man and had managed to get himself out of the mindset of 'I'm better then all of you'. Tony on the other hand was still very young and thought he was the most important person in the world. Okay, yes, Howard might have still acted like that at times, and he honestly was pretty valuable, but he'd learned to control that side of of himself a bit better and kept it mostly to himself when he could. Tony would throw his name and title around like it was nothing. Often he would 'remind' people of just who he was and it was never to try and defend his family name. Nine times out of ten it was to get something he wanted. Despite the many similarities between father and son there were quite the number of differences between them as well.

******

What time was it now? Oh, he couldn't remember when it was he started walking, and he really didn't care all that much. Those words his father said kept playing over in his mind while he walked down the dark streets. _'Might just help you get to act your age...'_ Tony shook his head as he once again recalled on what that man said. Why was it getting to him so much? Usually he was able to brush off the things his father scolded him with fairly easily. He'd scoff, justify himself then just walk off. Was it because he didn't try to back up his rather childish behavior? Wait, why didn't Tony stand there and argue with him? Was that what was eating at him?

"Jesus Christ." Tony growled out, yanking his hat off in frustration and dragging a hand through his hair. "Thinks he can talk down to me... He doesn't have any room to talk. What does he know anyway!?" he muttered bitterly even though he was obviously alone.

The brunette stood there for a long moment just thinking silently before a light caught his eye. 

A car turned onto the street and was heading his way. The two lights shining in his face made him have to squint in order to make out the model of the car, and seeing as it was an unfamiliar looking car he tensed up. He started to mentally prepare himself for a fight if one broke out with whoever was in that car. His hand drifted up and under the front of his jacket as the car came to a stop and the man driving stepped out. Of course Tony carried a gun on him. What? Did you really think that any of the Stark family didn't carry some kind of firearm for protection?

The man behind the lights spoke quickly with someone in the back of the car before moving towards Tony. 

"Mr. Stark." they called casually as they stepped into the light.

Tony instantly relaxed and released his grip on the gun under his jacket. He heaved a sigh and slowly walked over. "I swear, you're going to give me a heart attack one day doing that shit."

"I apologize, Sir." Jarvis spoke casually again while following the male to the driver's side back passenger door to open it for him. 

It was then revealed who Jarvis had spoken to before approaching. There in the back was sitting Tony's mother, and let me tell you that she did not look too happy at the moment. It was oblivious Tony would be getting a talking to while on the way home. That's exactly what he got as well. She had gotten worried when Tony didn't show up with Howard. Unfortunately this wasn't the first time this sort of thing had happened. She instantly knew what had happened and where about Tony would be at this time if he'd walked off.

They arrived back at the manor and Tony quickly got out of the car, not bothering to wait for Jarvis to open the door like he usually did. On the steps there was his mother's personal maid/caretaker who was waiting for the lady of the house to get out of the car before going to her side. The woman tried to say something to Tony but he only brushed passed her, not even giving her a glance as he went into the house. Inside there were more of the butlers and maids, there on their one big cleaning day, and they all said a 'welcome home, Mr. Stark' to Tony as he walked by. With each welcoming he looked more and more upset until finally he reached his private room and locked himself behind it's thick door. 

He just wanted the night to be over and to forget about everything that happened in the last few hours. Yeah, it'd been fun, but it was over now and remembering anything else from this night would only make him think of what his father had said to him that, for some reason, was continuing to bother him. 

Toeing off his shoes, tossing off his coat and dropping his holster and gun to the floor at the foot of his bed, Tony crawled into the sheets and proceeded to completely shut out all other noise while he made himself fall asleep. He prayed that he wouldn't instantly remember all of this when he woke up.


	2. A Chance Meeting?

"w-Whoa, whoa! Hey, just wait a second!" the curly haired male begged as he was pushed against the wall.

The slightly larger male held the scientist in place by fists fulls of his white coat while he, very bluntly, threatened the other before dropping him to the floor. There were three other men in the room, but they weren't really listening to what the appearing leader was saying to the scientist. Actually, the curly haired brunette wasn't the only scientist in the room ether. On the other side of the room one of the men in a suit was holding another male wearing a coat to the floor, a gun pressed against his head. Whatever was happening I can assure you that those men in the suits didn't realize just who they were messing with. 

"We're working as fast as we can, but this kind of thing takes time. We might not make a breakthrough with what you want for years. This doesn't happen over night." Bruce insisted. 

"Look!" the man threatening him spat, pulling him forward quickly only to shove him back against the wall again. "I know you and your buddy over there are a two of the greatest minds when it comes to this stuff. You can't try and say you don't know what's going to happen, because you do. The boss isn't too happy that you two are taking so long with the order. We've given you more and more time and each time we do you make up some excuse as to why you haven't gotten it done yet."

Just then something changed in Bruce. He appeared much calmer then he did a second ago. Simply standing there and listening to what the man was saying, he didn't move an inch as he waited for the right moment. Suddenly he picked up a pen from a table within arms reach and stabbed the man threatening him in the shoulder, forcing him to back away. Quickly Bruce grabbed the man's gun and pushed him further away while aiming at the men standing over the downed scientist across the room. "If you know what's good for you then you will all leave now." he growled, tightening his grip on the pistol in his hand. 

All of the men were caught off guard and none of them really knew what to do. They couldn't kill ether of these two scientists because they needed both of them if they wanted to get what they wanted. It was also something to mention that their boss would literally kill them if something happened to the scientists by their hands. Their boss had made it clear that they were not to hurt the scientists in any way unless they wanted to be six feet under where no one would ever find them. So, at least this time, the men in suits carefully left the room and exited the building shortly after. This would prove to have been a very wise choice on their part seeing as the man they were pushing around was the man known as Bruce Banner. Let's just say if they had decided to stay any longer, or tired to attack, well, they wouldn't have been living much longer. 

Bruce Banner was a man who quickly became known for his temper. His 'other self', as he called it, would come out and attack without remorse or compaction if he was put into a situation that made him fear for his life. No one knew this about the male, other then himself of course, but before he had moved to this city and landed this job working on new forms of energy, Bruce had killed a good number of people . These people weren't innocent though. No, no, these were some of the worst people you would hate to run into on the street at night, or even during the day for that matter. He'd been cornered and roughed up by some gang of punks, but at some point he'd sort of blacked out. It was all fuzzy up until he 'woke up' to find all of those men dead at his feet. Yes, Bruce had a really bad temper and could easily get angry with someone to the point of lashing out, but for many years he'd been working on keeping it under control. By this point in his life he could keep himself mostly grounded, but in high stress situations were he felt threatened he struggled or sometimes completely lost control of that side of himself. He'd managed to keep himself together enough to where he could protect himself, but not actually straight up kill the man who'd been in his face this time. God only knows that it sure as heck crossed his mind too.

"My god, did you really need to stab him, Bruce?" the ravenette huffed as he got to his feet.

Bruce sighed and shook his head lightly as he looked at his hand that had small droplets of blood on it. "I didn't want to, Albert, but he didn't give me a choice. They weren't going to back off." he huffed, wiping his hand on his coat. "And I don't know how long we can keep this up. He's starting to get suspicious..."

"I know, I know." Albert said with a sigh as he shuffled around to clean up some of the mess those men had made. "What else are we going to do though? We can't give this information over to those people. They'd destroy the world faster then you could blink with that kind of power. I don't even trust our own people with it."

Bruce just shook his head and went about helping the other pick up some now that things had settled down a bit. Albert had a point. The things they both were working on here... they shouldn't be shown to anyone else. The things they had discovered during those long nights were some of the most horrible things they had ever seen. To think, they were the ones who made such horrible things as well. In the end they only had gotten this far with their work by justifying its creation with saying they would never use it. It was too evil to even think about using. This thing could- I mean, the things they'd learned, this information could wipe entire cities off the face of the earth in seconds. If enough was made then perhaps whole countries. Maybe the men leading the country would understand the great deal of responsibility it would be to have something like this in their hands, but people weren't perfect and they would find a way to use it. That's just how it was though, right? You tell someone they can't have something and they will find ways to get it. They would fight tooth and nail for it just because you said they couldn't have it. 

The day slowly came to an end and soon enough the two scientists were leaving their work place and heading their separate ways. Unfortunately for the brunette his day was just getting started. Walking down the street he was looking through the newspaper casually, making sure to keep half an eye out for anyone walking by so he didn't run into them, but that's just when someone stopped right in front of him. 

"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention." Bruce said as he looked up from the paper to see a familiar set of faces. 

Shit, it was the same men from before! No, this wasn't going to be good. They quickly pushed the brunette into an ally and easily ganged up on him. Shoving him to the ground they roughed him up a good bit before hauling him up to his feet. That's when their 'leader' walked over and gripped a handful of Bruce's hair to roughly lift his head up. 

"Not so fun when you're the one being hit, is it?" the male smiled darkly, letting go. He then pulled out a knife. "How about we even the score, huh?" 

Oh shit! This couldn't happen. He'd done so good about not letting something like this happen again. No, no, no, this couldn't happen. He had a life now, a good one. He was working in a field he loved, had a friend who really understood him and he'd managed to leave behind that past of his, but what was he going to do? Just let himself get stabbed? He had to fight back... but if he did he wouldn't be able to control it. He wouldn't be able to hold himself back, not when there were so many of them. One or two then maybe he could manage not to go over the top, but there were easily four or five of them here. 

The man moved closer with the knife and held it against Bruce's cheek. "This is for forgetting your place." he said and pulled back his arm. 

That was it. Finding strength was he didn't feel was his own, Bruce broke free from the two men holding him back and lunged at the man with the knife. Tackling the male he gripped the old wound on his arm, forcing the other to drop the knife. Bruce snatched it up and stood up with a quick twist, throwing his arm out to end up cutting the throat of one man who'd tried to come up behind him. Blood spurted from the wound as the male staggered back gripping his neck with both hands before he fell to the ground. Writhing around in the dirt, blood gushing from the wound and running between his fingers, the man choked and coughed as he lay there dying. One of the younger men who'd shown up with the others ended up running off in fear while the other two remained. They didn't end up fairing too well ether. The few moments they all stood there in shock, Bruce had scrambled for the dying man's gun and shot the two onlookers. Did he kill them? He wasn't sure, but he wasn't worrying about that right now. When those two hit the ground he turned his attention back to the man who'd originally been threatening him. Grabbing him by the shirt he dragged the man further into the ally before beating him practically to death. The only reason he hadn't killed the man was because someone had pried Bruce away from him and was trying to get through to him.

"Hey, hey, calm down!" they called, but Bruce didn't seem to hear them. "Stop!" they said again and slammed Bruce into the brick wall roughly. 

That seemed to have gotten his attention as the scientist slowly stopped struggling against this newcomer and started to relax a little. 

"Their down, big guy. They're not gonna be getting up. Calm down, alright?" this newcomer spoke softly, only letting go of Bruce when they were sure he'd calmed down enough. 

Looking at his bloodied hands Bruce's eyes widened and tears filled his dark eyes as he looked at the state of all the men laying on the ground around him. "Did I-?" he inquired fearfully. 

"Yeah.. I think so. I just heard some fighting and then saw you going to town on that guy over there."

"Oh god," Bruce heaved and collapsed, back against the wall as he stared at the scene. "It happened again. I didn't want this to happen. I didn't want to hurt them, I really didn't. I tried to stop it, but it all happened so fast and I- My god, this is all my fault."

Seeing Bruce start to break out the friendly male did his best to calm him down as much as he could before helping him to his feet. "Look, why don't we get out of here? If the cops show up, or anyone else sees you then things aren't going to be very good for you." they said. 

Bruce couldn't really argue with that, but he couldn't think all that straight at the moment to answer beyond a nod. This friendly stranger helped Bruce out of the ally, making sure no one saw him, got him into a car and was now taking him away from the ally. In the car he did his best to try and keep Bruce calm by just asking simple questions like what his name was and who he was. He asked him about his job, if he had family, just anything to get Bruce to not think about that fight.

After a while they finally pulled up in front of a large manor and Bruce couldn't help but feel like he'd seen it somewhere before. 

"Who exactly are you?" Bruce finally asked as he was led out of the car. 

The brunette smiled as he looked over to the scientist and said, "Nice to finally meet you, Bruce. I'm Tony."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter will be more then likely edited, but I had to post it because I can't save drafts for some reason....


	3. Partners In Crime

"C'mon! Hurry up your ass up! We got better things to be gettin' to instead of waitin' for you while you take your sweet fucking time." he groaned, obviously bored out of his mind as he waited for the other to put money into a large sack. 

Yes, bored out of his mind while he's holding a man at gun point... Just another day at the office, you know? His partner was standing watch at the door, keeping an eye on all the civilians in the room, as well as keeping one of her short heals dug into a man's back who had tried to play hero when they first showed up. In all honestly here though, this really was just another day in the office for these two. This sort of bank wasn't uncommon ground for the. They often wouldn't even touch the less wealthy banks in the area. No, those little banks never were enough of a thrill for this duo. Plus, these two had a very specific reason for picking the places they did when they decided to go as far as getting into banks. They might have looked dysfunctional on the surface; two young kids, twenty two at the oldest, they used cheap weapons and they didn't kill any of the police who showed up, so they were very well known and were easily spotted, but they must have been good at their work seeing as they've never been caught. 

All in all, these two kids didn't really seem to know what they were doing, but they somehow managed to get away with all this money before hiding away for a few months, only striking again when things had settled down and they were mostly forgotten about. Despite their rather messy application of some of these attacks, they did know what they were doing, even though no one would ever admit to be out smarted by kids. 

"Cops!" the red head called as she fired out a window at the small group of armed police working up the street. 

The sandy haired blonde groaned loudly before snatching the bag way from the man behind the counter. "I'm going to remember this so you better hope I don't run into you again." he threatened until a smirk pulling up one corner of his mouth. "Let's go~!"

Soon the two were running out of the building, guns blazing as they hooted and howled with excitement while they both sprinted across the street to their waiting car.

******

Three years later...

Boom!!!

Women screamed and people scattered off the streets like rats caught in the lights of a speeding car as smoke and ash filled the block. The whole face of the building that had suddenly been blown to bits came crashing down sending up fresh ash and burning dust into the air as a man and woman walked out. They looked completely unfazed by what just happened and actually looked like they'd been hardly touched by the black smoke swirling around them. Both were well dressed and each had a rifle in their arms as they casually trotted out of the still burning building. Only once into the street did they stop and look back at their handy work. There was a thoughtful look on the blonde's face while the red haired women looking very unamused at the scene. 

"Don't you think this was a little over bored, Clint?" she asked, giving him a 'no nonsense' look. 

He just shrugged as he watched the smoke fall.

"I'm serious, Clint. You could have gotten us killed pulling some shit like that." she scolded.

"Jesus, shut up, Nat." he complained childishly. Lazily he turned around and started to walk down the street towards their car. "Besides, they're the ones who said they always wanted to go out with a bang~." He mimicked the sound of an explosion and smirked to his partner before hearing the sounds of sirens. "C'mon, lets get out of here before the killjoys show up."

She rolled her eyes as she sighed and ran with Clint to the car. 

Luckily for them, the explosion ran off everyone on the street so they didn't have to worry about taking their time counting their haul. No one was there to see where they went and the police were only just arriving. The two watched from the safety of the car as the men in blue rushed inside to look for survivors. Clint couldn't hold back a chuckle as the thought crossed his mind. He was the one who set that bomb, so there's no way anyone got out of there alive who he didn't intend to walk out. Even if someone had managed to live through that, before they left they do a walk through and make sure the targets are dead before leaving. They lingered a moment longer before Natasha had enough and told him to drive. 

They left the city and didn't stop until they couldn't see the skyline of the ever growing city. Once away from the busybody streets of the city that never seems to sleep they eventually pulled off the main road and followed a tiny dirt path that lead into a thicket of trees and thick underbrush. Deep in this hidden paradise was a house. It was nothing fancy, looks like it might have been owned by a farmer for a time before they found it., but it was the place this odd couple called home. 

"Home, Sweet home." Clint mused. 

Inside there was a small kitchen, a family space and a single bedroom. It looked like any other house you might see, but this was definetly far from a 'normal' house. Not only did Clint and Natasha live here so the whole city would have killed to know where this place was, but behind the house there was a seemingly normal well. It was dry and not actually there for to be used for what you'd think. Instead there was a ladder that took you into the darkness at the bottom of the pit. Why would anyone want to go down into a dark well that looked like it could cave in on itself at any moment you ask? Well, that's exactly why they had built their secret sort of 'base of operations'. At the bottom of the well there was a hollow, large enough to stand in, and hidden away within this small space were thousands of dollars were just sitting there. It was something to mention that along a wall there was a handful of picture with X's over three of them. 

Natasha walked over to that far wall and crossed out two more pictures while Clint started to sort and recount the money they'd just obtained. 

"So, Jackson, Eds, Carmichael, Fritz and Roberts are done. Who next?" the red head asked while taking down her hair and slipping off her coat.

"Let's get him." Clint spoke up as he tossed a bundle of money at the last picture on the line. 

"No."

"Why not?" he scoffed and jumped to his feet. "We've been skirting around that bastard for years because we weren't ready yet. Now we are." Gripping her shoulders he looked deeply into her eyes as if trying to convince her. "We've been doing this since we were kids, Nat. The only thing holding us back is fear. If we don't do this now then we will ether miss our chance or we'll just get into the habit of pushing it off to the side like we always have. This guy is the worst of the worst, and needs to be stopped. What's stopping us other then this fear you have of us not being ready?" 

Pulling away from him she groaned and shook her head. "He has an army, Clint. Two people can't take on a whole city of men armed to the teeth with the best weapons in the country."

"That's never stopped us before~!" he called, sounding almost cheerful while recalled upon 'fond' memories. "We've taken on whole warehouses full of mob men and we got out just fine." he urged. "We've taken on most of the city's police force and gotten away. What's going to be different about takin' on his men?"

Clint continued to ramble on about how they had learned so much over the years and how they could use the fact everyone didn't think anything of them to their advantage, but Natasha was only partly listening. 

For a while now she'd been getting more and more conflicted with what they were doing. Yeah, tracking down mob bosses and killing them was actually a good thing, but some of the ways they did it got to her at times. As the years went on she started to feel sorry for some of the people they killed while going after the mobs, because it was rare that only their targets took a bullet. More and more people got hurt and she really started to think that what they were doing, or at least the way they were doing it, wasn't actually a good thing. In the beginning she was all for it. It was such a rush to run away from the gun fire or to track down and put a bullet between a boss' eyes. It was good that they were doing this though, right? The police were just as evil as the mobs, so they never thought of trying to actually trying to fix the city. They were getting payed and didn't really care what happened to the people of the city. So, yeah, them doing this was a good thing... but Natasha was starting to envy the 'normal' people more and more as the years went by as well. 

"Clint," she said to stop his ranting, "It's not that I don't think what we're doing isn't good, because I do think this needs to be done. Those men are evil and horrible, but..." she paused. 

Should she say anything? What would Clint think of her after she said she'd been thinking about giving up this kind of work? Would he hate her? God, so many questions ran through her mind as she stood there with her back turned on her only friend and closest thing to family she had left. She couldn't lose him like she'd lost everyone else. That would be too much to handle, but what if he hated her? Would he leave? 

"Nat?" he called softly, pulling her out of her own thoughts.

"I don't think we should do this anymore." she blurted out.

Clint was silent as she looked over to him. 

"We have all this money, Clint, we can get new lives, get a place in the city and live like normal people who don't have to be afraid of showing their faces. We can have a house with a green yard and a dog, like we always wanted when we were kids, Clint." she urged, almost sounding pleading. "No one ever said this had to be a life time thing. Why can't someone else do this? We don't have to be the ones doing this, Clint. Someone else can."

"...He killed my parents, Nat." Clint said, eyes locked on his shoes. "I made a promise that I'd make sure he payed for what he did... and I'm so close to being able to keep that promise. For a while I forgot about it, yeah, I'll admit to that, but after we've gotten this far we can't stop now." Sighing heavily he walked over to her and pulled her into a comforting embrace. "Listen," he started, pulling back an inch to look into her blue eyes, "I promise, on my mother's grave, that once that bastard has payed for the things he's done, I promise you that we'll find a way out of this and get that house."

"You better not be lying to me just to butter me up, Clinton." Natasha threatened softly with a sad smile.

The sandy haired male just smiled and said, "Have I ever broken a promise to you yet?" before kissing her forehead.

A moment passed before Clint pat her shoulders and gently tugged her towards where he'd been counting. He told her she had to help do this too since she helped take it in the first place. So they sat down there for a few hours, talking about what they were planning next, before heading back up the ladder and into the house for the night. Natasha cooked while Clint mostly played with the flour, really just making a big mess to try and cheer her up, and soon they went to sleep before their next big adventure started tomorrow.


End file.
